harass

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱe“here; this”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*hē₂r“here, in this place”
3. Frankish · derived from*hara“here, hither”
4. Old French · derived fromharer“to set a dog on”
5. Old French · derived fromharasser“to exhaust, tire out, wear out; to harry, torment, vex”
6. English todayharass

The verb is derived from Middle French, Old French harasser (“to exhaust, tire out, wear out; to harry, torment, vex”) (modern French harasser (“to exhaust, tire out, wear out”)), possibly from Old French harer (“to set a dog on”), from Frankish *hara (“here, hither”) (a command for a dog to attack), from Proto-Germanic *hē₂r (“here, in this place”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe (“here; this”) + *ís (“the (person or thing just named)”) + *-r. The noun is derived from the verb.

Words from the same roots